Teachers can make all the difference
Beverly K. Sheline
August 9, 1947 – January 10, 2015
Kokomo, Indiana
Miss Beverly Sheline was an English teacher at my high school. She taught my first creative writing class. I was fourteen, still painfully shy, and a serious bookworm. Now most writers read voraciously when they’re younger, but I was still using books to hide from the social anxiety of dealing with too many other people. By the next year I’d begin to force myself to break the prison of my shyness by joining speech team and drama, but that year I was still very much letting books be my shelter. I mean, if you’re reading people are much less likely to try and talk to you, so you don’t have to worry about talking to them. I was still very much in hiding, and only decided that summer that I wanted to be a writer, but not just a writer, I wanted to write horror, dark fantasy, and heroic fantasy. I was this shy kid from the middle of Indiana farm country that had decided she would be a horror writer as her profession. Can you imagine how badly that could have gone if I’d gotten the wrong teacher at the very beginning? But Miss Sheline was very much the right teacher.
She let her students write whatever type of story they wanted without judging the worth of the topic. I would get a lot of judgement on the fact that I wrote genre fiction in college, but in that first precious class there was no judgement, no classifying of one type of story being morally superior to another. That was a gift, to just let her students fly and be who they were as writers, a gift that far too many creative writing classes don’t give their students.
I’d been writing since I was twelve but had only finished a story beginning to end that summer. It was a horror story, a mystery and slasher flick really, because everyone died horribly except for the baby who crawled away into the woods with the implication she would starve to death with no one to care for her. My Uncle Monk, who I think was the only one I gave it to for reading, did the best thing possible. He patted me on the head, said it was good, and didn’t get all freaked out that I was writing about torture and dismemberment. It was the best reaction he could have given, I think. The year I was thirteen- fourteen was a very big turning point for me creatively. I discovered Robert E. Howard’s short story collection, Pigeons from Hell, which solidified what kind of writer I wanted to be and I’ve never wavered from that decision. It led me to find other horror authors to read including Stephen King and Anne Rice, which would both influence my own writing, especially Salem’s Lot and Interview with the Vampire.
I wrote my very first vampire story for Miss Sheline’s class. I’d grown up watching the old Hammer vampire films, had read Salem’s Lot, Interview with the Vampire, and I think all that helped me be ready to write that first story. The other ingredient was a friend I rode the school bus with let me have the cover off her Teen Beat magazine. It was a picture of Parker Stephenson who played one of the Hardy Boys on the then TV show. Yes, I had a crush on him, but it was the image, not the crush, that made me want the picture. I couldn’t explain it to my friend, but I knew it was important for me. I told her I’d use it in a story, she was dubious, but she let me have it, making me promise to show her the story afterwards.
I used that picture to base my first master vampire on, but the main character of the story was a petite, black-haired vampire herself who had made friends with a human girl that the charming but evil vampire had seduced and killed. The main character used a crossbow to kill the other vampire and avenge her friend. I no longer have a copy of that story, but I remember it in startling detail all these years later, and yes the first shape of Anita was in that main character. The vampire loosely based on Parker Stephenson’s picture never showed up in my stories again; strangely dead is dead for me with characters.
It never occurred to me that Miss Sheline might be disturbed by my subject matter. It would only be years later that I realized how differently it could have gone, but instead she read it, gave it an A, and said, “You scared me.”
I’d scared a grown up! I’d scared a teacher! That was heady stuff and just the kind of ego boost that I needed to keep me going forward with my dream.
I learned just two days ago that Miss Beverly Sheline died of cancer recently. She is being laid to rest today and family and friends are gathering to say goodbye. If I’d been thinking more clearly I would have sent flowers, but it hit me strangely harder than I thought it would, and I didn’t think about flowers, I thought about writing. I thought I would write about the teacher who helped start me on my way to being a writer. There were other teachers at Oak Hill High School that were influential on me as a writer and a person, but I’ll save those stories for another day. Today is about Miss Sheline. I did tell her, and say in my very first newspaper interview which was for the local paper where I grew up, how much she had helped me. She read the interview and she and several teachers that I’d mentioned came out to the signing at the local mall. I’m doubly glad she knew that she’d made a difference to me and that I got to tell her in person years ago. Good teachers inspire, lead, but sometimes the best thing they do is to let the students know they matter, and that their first efforts are rewarded. I still remember the thrill I got from her words, “You scared me.” Now, I scare people professionally, but few moments have been as important to me as that first one. Thank you, Miss Sheline.
19 thoughts on “Teachers can make all the difference”
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I knew that you had to have one of “those” teachers in your background. Thank God for them!
I’m very sorry for your loss, but am happy that Ms Sheline was such an inspiration for you. It’s brought all of us, your readers, so very much to enjoy.
More beautiful and enduring than flowers!
My condolences on her passing. I had a similar English teacher in 6th grade, Mrs. Thomas, and she was the one who suggested I might be able to write as a career. I remember my first story in her class, too, and it’s amazing how one person can set you on the path to pursue your dreams.
Farewell, Miss Sheline, as you take your journey of passing. Take our thanks with you to your rest, that you helped shape such a wonderful writer. May you soon rejoin the Dance of Life.
i remember that class. I don’t go a day without thinking how lucky all of us were to have those teachers who let us think beyond what that place wanted to hold us to.
I really enjoyed hearing how Ms. Sheline influenced you and gave you confidence in your writing. She was something, wasn’t she? She was my English teacher sophomore year, and my AP English teacher Junior and Senior year. As small as Oak Hill is, I’m sure that you can imagine how tiny those AP classes were; 6-7 students, max. Those classes were eye-opening, and a completely different experience from the more traditional classroom setting we were all used to. She taught us how to really think, how to actively discuss, and how to get more out of and engage in our experience of education. We had a great time in her class with the interactive environment she built for us, and she was always one of my favorite teachers. When I went to college, she was the only teacher I ever corresponded with after graduation or returned to with questions or for insight. In fact, it was probably after high school that I fully began to realize what a privilege it had been to have her guidance. She didn’t take shit from anyone, and although we all have to go sometime, I’ll bet she gave cancer a hard run for the money. RIP Ms. Sheline.
Those teachers are the ones that everybody wishes they had but few did. I got lucky in high school with an English teacher of my own and the art teacher who had been there long enough to have taught my dad. Then just a few years ago I got lucky again with two of the art tutors in my diploma programme. One encouraged me to try new things, (sorry I’m still scared of the power tools and welding stuff), and the other actually brought a piece of my work straight off the assessment wall (my first ever sale) and proved to me I could do it.
I also had Miss Sheline and she was my very favorite. I am not a fan of horror or the genre of books you write, but I am so pleased to know she gave you your wings to become all that you are as a writer (and I’m guessing many more areas of your life). She was a believer that everyone had potential and we were very blessed to have her in our lives. Thank you so much for sharing.
Another great read. Thank you. I wish I would have had this kind of judgement free teachers and family.. I was not strong enough to not hear what they said. I can still hear them.
Your gift is apparent with the beautifully expressed thoughts here. I have some of your books, and I have shared your unique story with bookstore cashiers and others. 🙂 I thought a lot of you in school and enjoyed talking with you at our 10th reunion. You are an inspiration! Your sweet smile and extraordinary writing style were destined to bring you success. Continued happiness . . .
My condolences. I’m an aspiring writer. In high school I got suspended for writing an X-rated story I can barely remember.
My school counselor told me to channel it in other forms. My brother was the one to suggest I keep writing. My sister has been my greatest muse
I have you to thank for my characters finding a strength I couldn’t have found without Anita shouting her encouragement to me.
I’m working on putting the finishing touches on this story that’s been in my head for the last seven and a half years. I read Anita’s various exploits when I need some inspiration.
So thank you. For imagining a kick ass, sailor mouthed, empowering woman. She and Meredith Gentry have changed my life.
Good teachers can make all the difference! I’m so glad you were blessed by her gift to teach truly, and am honored you shared with us.
Thanks for your wonderful tribute. Your words express what I feel about so many of our teachers at Oak Hill at all levels. So many of them really let us explore our interests and encouraged our talents.
Sorry for your lose. she had a long life and i hope she loved and lived it to the fullest anyone can.
Thank you for sharing this with us. Teachers can make all the difference!
Thank you for sharing your story about my Aunt Bev. I miss her dearly & life will not be the same without her.
Wow…it’s amazing the rest of the world knew my Aunt Bev the way the family did…she was such a great person and reading this was truly a blessing…
I am happy for all of you to have the opportunity to have that chance of that type of class in your life. Where I went to school, we did not have such a class. I have to thank the library for the blind, and audio books. I would not have ever found Anita Blakes books, now they can’t keep up with them, it’s driving me crazy!
Its sad when someone who had such a profound effect on the path we take passes. But it is good that someone like her touched your life.
Teachers sometimes don’t realise the power they have to ruin a person or make a them fulfill their potential……or maybe they do realise the effect they have; and like characters in your books, might be good or evil. Or am I just being suspicious?